Enigma
by RhetoricalLove
Summary: Ashley finds the man that saved her to be somewhat of an enigma; one that she's determind to make sense of, even if it takes something as inane as a hair clip to do so. Light Leon/Ashley fluff. Set during RE4.


There were so many things that Ashley didn't understand about the enigmatic man that had been sent by her father to rescue her, and the more time she spent with him, the deeper the mysteries became. He never talked about his past, never once passed over what had happened to make him so _very good_ at protecting her; no matter how she phrased the question, he'd never gave her a straight answer. Of course, there were other things besides his past that confused her...

-

"Leon! Over there!" She pointed over his shoulder at the approaching creatures. They staggered, slower than normal humans, but not slow enough that they posed no threat to the two Americans, holding their makeshift weapons high in the air. Light glinted off a few metal blades as a bolt of lightning cracked overhead, and she subconsciously moved closer to Leon, craving the comfort and protection that he provided. Her voice wavered with fear, no matter how many of the _ganados_ (that's what she assumed they were called, after having read one of the memo's that Leon had picked up in the village) she saw, their empty eyes and sallow bodies terrified her to no end.

"I see 'em." He replied, voice flat as if he wasn't afraid at all. He tossed his head to the side as he palmed the grip of his Red 9 handgun, aiming it at the first approaching enemy. Ashley squealed, hiding her face against his strong shoulder when the man's head came clear off, exploding outwards in a fountain of pinky-red gore. His comrades didn't flinch as they were showered with the remains, and Leon tilted his head again before re-aiming, and squeezing off the next shot.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, amidst all the fearful thoughts, Ashley registered that just like clockwork; Leon moved his head right before he was going to take a shot, as if it were a mindless gesture that he didn't even notice.

Mindless or no, it took up a few seconds of time, and during that minute interval, the ganados got that much closer. She yelped when she felt cold, clammy hands around her waist, pulling her away from Leon while he was busy executing the creatures in front of them. Too engrossed in pondering the enigma behind Leon's movements, Ashley hadn't realized that a small group of creatures had slunk up beside her, hailing from a ramshackle building that she and Leon had mistakenly presumed empty. At her scream, Leon whirled on his heel, discharging the empty clip from his handgun in the same movement, and snapping another one into place before the old one hit the ground. His hair fell in his eyes and he flicked it out of the way with a tilt of his head, and Ashley was forced to close her eyes just as the first warm spray of blood hit her pale skin.

'_Huh._' She thinks when it's all over; staring at Leon's hair while he checks her to make sure she hadn't been injured at all. '_So that's the problem.'_

-

"You should do something about your hair."

It had been almost unnervingly quiet before Ashley had spoken, and secretly, Leon was glad that she had. The forest at night was a scary place—so that made the forest at night, during a _thunderstorm_ even more unnerving, especially when the lightening had let up, and all he could hear was the rumbling of thunder in the distance and the pitter-patter of the rain on the leaves all around them. He lifted a hand and whipped some of the stray strands out of his face so they were no longer plastered to his forehead by rainwater. "What? Why?"

Ashley pursed her full lips together and put her hand on the small of his back, telling him nonverbally that she wanted to stop walking for a few minutes. He obliged, and turned so he was almost facing her, but could still keep an eye on their surroundings, lest something try to sneak up in the underbrush. "Whenever you shoot, you always take a few seconds to get it out of your eyes. It's dangerous." She explained, gaze flickering from his eyes to the long dirty blonde strands that fell in front of them, then back again.

"Do I?" He frowned slightly. Obviously, the movements had been so subconscious that he didn't even realize he was doing them. Ashley sighed, having foreseen this kind of reaction.

"Yes, you do." The teenager crossed her arms tightly over her chest to fight against the chill wind that was starting to pick up, filtering through the treetops and beating the light raindrops against her forcefully. "If you want, I think I have a hair clip that you could use to keep it out of your face."

The look that Leon gave her was one of disbelief, as if she was absolutely mad to suggest something like that. When she didn't break eye contact though, he scoffed and rolled his eyes, apparently realizing that she was serious. "Fine, okay." Ashley visibly brightened, despite the tremors that were starting to shake her body from the cold, and reached into one of the small pockets in her plaid skirt, withdrawing a thin pink barrette. She handed it to Leon before crossing her arms once more, and watched as he took his fringe of wet bangs in hand, and clipped them off to the side of his face.

She giggled, it looked ridiculous and she couldn't help herself. "There, better?"

He sent a cursory frown her way, but nodded anyways. He'd never cut his hair, but he had to admit that it was nice to have an unrestricted sight path for once. "C'mon, let's keep moving."

-

The next time they came across a small group of ganados, Leon took them down in less time than before, not being forced to pause in order to get his hair out of his eyes. Ashley subconsciously congratulated herself on making sense of at least one of the man's small quirks—even if it was just starting to scratch the surface of the enigma, it was still headway.


End file.
